Plastics, poop and power management.
Northeast Ohio could create more than 1,800 jobs by helping a handful of local companies commercialize technologies that turn waste into energy, according to a study by technology advocacy group NorTech.
The region could create another 1,000 jobs by developing more technologies designed to help building owners manage their energy use and related software, a second NorTech study finds.
The organization on Thursday, June 30, released the two “roadmap” studies as part of its broader effort to outline the region's assets in several industries considered part of the advanced energy sector. The studies also detail strategies on how the region can use those assets to create jobs.
NorTech last week released two similar reports: One indicated that the region could create more than 2,000 jobs by developing energy storage technologies, while the other stated that the region would have a difficult time creating jobs related to electric vehicle technology because it has few assets upon which to build.
The two roadmaps released this week — which analyzed the biomass/waste-to-energy and smart grid technology sectors — were not all positive.
For instance, the biomass and waste-to-energy roadmap said the region would face an “extreme uphill battle” to create many jobs related to technologies that turn waste heat into energy, said Dave Karpinski, who is leading NorTech's advanced energy efforts. Though Echogen Power Systems Inc. in Akron has created promising technology designed to recycle waste heat, the Houston area has established a clear lead in that market, Mr. Karpinski said.
However, Northeast Ohio has two companies — Polyflow LLC of Akron and Vadxx Energy of Cleveland — that can turn plastics, tires and other polymers back into fossil fuels. There's no “800-pound gorilla” that has similar technology, Mr. Karpinski said.
Setting up commercial-scale pilot projects for the technologies is expensive, however. NorTech aims to help the companies secure grants so that they can have pilots running by 2013.
“We've got to get to commercial scale soon,” he said.

Potential in waste-to-energy, too

Northeast Ohio also could play a big role in commercializing anaerobic digestion machines; they convert organic materials such as crop waste and feces into methane gas, which in turn can be used to run generators.
Quasar Energy Group of Independence already has an anaerobic digester set up in Wooster, turning crop waste and other organic material into energy for the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.
Companies in Europe and Asia dominate the industry overseas, but Quasar and other companies will have plenty of opportunities to capitalize on the technology as it becomes accepted in North America, Mr. Karpinski said.
NorTech’s main role will be to push lawmakers to remove restrictions on the use of some feedstocks and to create incentives for the technology to be adopted. Electricity from the machines is still too expensive, though costs are expected to come down, he said.
The second roadmap released Thursday noted that the region has several companies developing smart grid technologies, which are projected to give utilities more control over how power flows through the grid while also giving consumers more control over how they use it.
Few of those companies, however, are working in related areas, Mr. Karpinski said. The region had significant strength in one area, though: helping owners of industrial, commercial and residential buildings manage their electricity use.
“We had all three sectors represented pretty well,” he said.
NorTech now aims to get companies and other players in the energy management sector to work together on a few pilot projects intended to demonstrate the benefits of new energy management technologies — both to potential customers and to legislators who could create incentives for customers to buy them.
“We need the pilots to inform the regulators on what those benefits are,” he said.